BOYS' BASKETBALL: Waynesboro rallies to beat Northern

Waynesboro boys basketball coach Tom Hoffman has been looking for a signature moment, a defining win, for the Indians. He may have found it Saturday.

WAYNESBORO — Waynesboro boys basketball coach Tom Hoffman has been looking for a signature moment, a defining win, for the Indians.He may have found it Saturday.Less than a day after the Tribe thrilled a Pack the House Night crowd with a fourth period rally that carried them past Big Spring, the Indians were even more impressive before a much smaller crowd with a late rally to emerge with a 54-50 Mid-Penn non-divisional victory over Northern York.“We’ve been looking for a signature victory,” Hoffman related. “Hopefully, tonight was one of those because they’re a very solid team. The moment isn’t too big for us. We’re playing with poise and making the right play at the right time.”After a disastrous first period that saw the Indians fall behind 16-4, Waynesboro (6-10) picked away at the Northern lead in the middle periods before punching its ticket for the win with a big fourth quarter that saw vital contributions from everybody who saw action.Northern (8-9) entered the fourth quarter clinging to a 40-37 lead.Indian Steven Ridenour (7 points), who saw extended minutes on the floor with starter Tim Ingram in foul trouble, stuck an inside shot to bring Waynesboro to within a point. A minute later, James Bennett converted a follow shot to again bring the Indians to within one, 42-41.Northern seemingly regained control as David Cuckovic (17 points) hit from inside and Zac Ilgenfritz struck a three to put the Polar Bears ahead by six with 4:40 to go.But the Indians didn’t fold.Cole Warrenfeltz, who powered the Indian offense with 17 points, delivered on a drive, Seth Hoffman connected on two charity shots and Shaquill Smith converted a drive to forge the first tie since early in the first period, setting the score at 47-47 with 1:47 remaining.“Seth is starting to get healthy again,” Hoffman observed. “He hit a big three for us. We still have to limit his minutes. It was good to see him make some plays.”A free throw by Cuckovic gave the Bears their last lead.Connor Fetterhoff, a game removed from six treys, hit his only one of this contest to put the Indians in front with just under a minute left.Two free throws by Travis Saylor (16 points) forged the final tie.Northern missed a chance to go on top again after an Indian turnover by failing to convert the fast break shot. Ryan Kelley pulled in the missed shot and Ingram, now back in the game, took the ball to the iron and netted the ensuing foul shot to put the Indian on top, 53-50, with less than 13 ticks on the clock.Ingram then rebounded Northern’s miss on its final shot and went to the foul line with less than a second left for the final point.“Foul trouble took away some of Tim’s aggressiveness,” Hoffman noted. “Coming down the stretch he really stepped up and made big time plays.“Some guys that haven’t gotten a lot of time played a lot of minutes and played very productively,” Hoffman pointed out. “Steven Ridenour and Darion Brown really had good basketball games and kept us in the game with their play inside. Ryan Kelley played some extended minutes.”Waynesboro could do little right in the opening period, coming up short on its outside shots and unable to convert from inside.Travis Saylor (16 points) and Cuckocvic each had six points to lead Northern to the big early lead.“We acted in that first quarter like we didn’t know how to play the game of basketball,” Hoffman related. “The one thing we didn’t do as a coaching staff, and I think it trickled down to the players, was panic. We’ve been here before. It’s a resilient bunch of young men that are starting to believe that they’re going to doing things in the fourth quarter to win basketball games.”Waynesboro began to slowly climb back into the game in the second period with Warrenfeltz claiming the hot hand by collecting nine points to bring Waynesboro to within seven at 26-19 at halftime.“Cole’s scoring kept us in the game in the first half,” Hoffman said. “As a senior, he really helped us weather the storm and get back in the game. He was solid for us all day long.”With less than four minutes left in the third quarter, Waynesboro trailed by double digits at 35-25, but outscored the visitors 12-5 to close out the period.Kelley had all seven of his points in the quarter to fuel the rally.Waynesboro pulled down 29 rebounds, with Ingram leading with seven despite limited playing time and Kelley added six as well as three assists. Warrenfeltz enjoyed an 8-for-12 shooting game and had five boards. Waynesboro was charged with 14 turnovers.Waynesboro jayvees matched the varsity with wins on successive days, posting a 33-22 victory over Northern.Ethan Mohn led Waynesboro with 14 and Zach Stultz contributed nine.After a 6-6 tie for the first period, Waynesboro broke ahead 17-12 by intermission.Waynesboro will travel to Mechanicsburg on Monday.

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